Little Panda and Her Super Heart

Little Panda is a superhero! She just needs to find out what her superpowers are.

This is an empowering story about children’s heart transplant and heart recipients’ inner strength. This story is written by a cardiac children’s nurse.

Little Panda and Her Super Heart is a picture book for children aged 2 to 7 years old. With beautifully illustrated backgrounds and characters made with clay, readers will soon be immersed in this story about courage and self-confidence. Children undergoing different types of surgery will relate to it, even though the focus is on congenital heart defects and heart surgery.

This book includes images of real-life tools and materials used by healthcare professionals (blood pressure monitor, electrocardiogram (ECG), thermometer, pulse oximeter, nasogastric tubes, and many more). This helps children learn to recognise medical tools and become familiar with them.

Will you help Little Panda find her superpowers?

what readers say

“Love this book- a fun way for children with cardiac problems to learn about the different equipment and care they receive in hospital also with a clear message these children are hero’s!”

Laura

“My girls 3, 5 and 7 loved this book. My 5 year old is a heart warrior and loved telling her sisters “I had that!” when she saw procedures she has had done. It was a great way to explain about heart transplants in a way that doesn’t seem scary. Would definitely recommend.”

April

“This book is wonderful! I know we will use it to explain my son’s heart problems as he grows older. It is also really good for helping siblings to understand what is happening. The illustrations are beautiful as well..”

Heidi

“The illustrations are adorable. I will definitely buy the hard copy for my baby to keep forever. The author does a great job of hitting all the necessary points for a child to understand the medical treatment while still keeping it short and sweet.”

Amazon Customer

“I like that this book is so colorful, cute, and educational. My daughter had open heart surgery when she was 3 months old. This author does a good job of describing all of the different tools the medical professionals use when a person has a heart issue. […] It’ll be fun to use the book to explain to her what happened and the different tools used. She didn’t have a heart transplant, but had a couple of defects repaired and is doing well.”

Becca

“As a Mom of a 16-year-old daughter who has had 2 heart transplants in the last 3 years, I find this book to be a perfect way to both prepare your child for a heart transplant and for educating heart-healthy children as to what a heart transplant entails.

The characters in the book are cute and the illustrations are colorful and fun. I like that the author used real pictures of some of the medical equipment a child will encounter. I am impressed with how the author tells about the things a child can expect if they have a heart transplant but in a non-scary way.

[…] I am happy to now have a book to recommend to families who are about to begin their heart transplant journey!“

Karen

why did I create this book?

Hi! My name is Marta. I’m a cardiac children’s nurse and work in a children’s hospital in London

I’m an author too, and I’ve been working very hard to spread education and awareness about health-related topics for kids. In 2021 I published “Nurse Bear Does First Aid“, a picture book to teach young children (2 to 6) basic first aid skills and how to call an ambulance. I believe children with first aid skills are potential life-savers, and they can actually help so much!

Published in 2022, “Little Panda and Her Super Heart” is a truly special book to me. I am so happy to work as a cardiac nurse looking after heart warriors and their families – they are all so, so brave and inspiring! I hope this book will help young cardiac patients feel represented in what they read and will raise awareness about heart conditions and organ donation. Most of all, I hope it will empower children to embrace their inner strengths and self-confidence.

If you’d like to get in touch, you can reach me on Instagram, Facebook or via email at info@martaalmansa.com.